


Chasing Your Echo

by timewytch



Series: Dorm 2B AU [1]
Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS
Genre: Ai is human and also a bad friend, Alternate Universe - College/University, Band Fic, Datastormshipping, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, M/M, Ryoken falls hard and fast, Ryoken has a kink for Yusaku's voice, Specter is a bad friend, Yusaku is awkward unless on stage, but with a different meaning, kinda a song fic, no beta we die like men, the lost incident still exists and will be mentioned at some point
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-03
Updated: 2020-04-16
Packaged: 2020-11-22 20:30:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,141
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20880230
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/timewytch/pseuds/timewytch
Summary: Ryokan was never really a music person. Listening to it likened to listening to white noise and honestly he couldn’t name a song if you asked. That is until he ends up at a concert and the band @Ignister comes out; Ryoken finds himself very into the group after that day and in particular @Ignister's mysterious lead singer - Playmaker.





	1. Take Me Over

**Author's Note:**

> Oh hi so I'm trash for this ship as well as Yusaku's VA so enjoy some good ol' rock band AU because it's almost my favorite AU for the YGO fandom. Note that in terms of music style I would liken this to the band Red so a lot of the songs mentioned or quoted in here are by them, also the chapter titles and story title. Could this be a song fic? Who knows

University was a drag, this was a fact Ryoken had known going into his program and he had prepared himself for the monotony of classes, assignments and exams – what he hadn’t been prepared for is the social aspect that came with university. To be honest, he knew this was an element of the ‘college experience’ but he thought that within his computer science major everyone would be too bogged down with work to even attempt having the party kid lifestyle, this however proved to be incorrect.

If Ryoken had a quarter for every single time he was invited to an event or party, he would be able to afford coffee for the rest of university and possibly for the rest of his life. It seemed everywhere he turned, there would be some sort of event creeping around the corner be it school orientated or otherwise. Sometimes Ryoken entertained the offers, usually if it in some stream dealt with school or at least wasn’t some frat party that Ryoken knew would just bore him before he left there with too much alcohol in his system and an unfinished paper that always happened to be due the next morning – somehow despite his meticulous planning and efforts to keep on top of everything he still always managed to miss something whenever he decided to head out to one of those events and in turn he just swore off it entirely.

However, apparently he would be breaking that oath this weekend.

“You need to loosen up Ryoken,” Specter said, sitting next to Ryoken in the campus library – shoving over some textbooks and papers to the side to put down a box with a bunch of seedlings in it, “I’m pretty sure if you spend any more time cooped up here or at your house studying, you may just die from the lack of social interaction.”

“That’s funny coming from a guy who spent all of last week locked inside a green house,” Ryoken quipped back, eyes darting between Specter and the open mechanics textbook that was in front of him.

“It was for class and after that _I _at least took a break – you are the same guy who spent all of winter break working on robotics instead of relaxing like everyone else in school.”

“I am debating on it as a minor,” Ryoken said, shrugging. Computer sciences and robotics went pretty hand in hand, he thought it would be helpful enough with his stream of work.

“Take a robotics class then, you need to _relax _Ryoken,” Specter dragged out the word, reaching over to shut the textbook in front of Ryoken, obviously demanding full attention from the other.

Sighing, Ryoken turned to look at Specter; “ok what is it?”

“What is what?”

“You are bugging me about this for a reason Specter, just spit it out.” Ryoken drummed his fingers on the table, side-eyeing his friend.

“There’s a concert happening this Saturday and you are coming with me,” Specter said determined, “a group of my classmates are going and have generously invited us.”

“And if I don’t?”

“Then you are the worst friend ever, Ryoken.”

Ryoken scoffed, “somehow I think I can learn to live with that.”

“Ok how about because I’ll bring my carnivorous plants home?” Specter countered, smiling wide as he knew he had won with this one – Ryoken had nothing wrong with the plants to be honest, they were a part of the world and for the most part they weren’t that creepy.

What he held issue with is Specter baby talking them during feeding time.

“Ugh fine.” Ryoken ran a hand through his hair roughly, leaning his head down on the table annoyed, “why do you want me to go so badly?”

“Because a girl in my class said if I could convince my _hot _friend Ryoken to come to the concert with us she would do my half of the group assignments and I get some new plants.”

“How advantageous of you.”

\--

When Saturday rolled around, Ryoken was deep into his work – rushing to finish his assignments for the weekend before he had to go that stupid concert he had been forced into. His apartment was silent for the part, the only sounds filling the room were the sounds of his fingers colliding with the keyboard and the ambient sound of the world outside his high rise. Most people found it weird, when they saw Ryoken working in complete silence – but honestly he preferred it that way. He didn’t like to listen to podcasts or anything when working because he would rather give his full attention to the content at hand when he had that time available – which was rarely – and well he wasn’t big on music.

It was a weird fact about Ryoken, that he didn’t really listen to music. It was a big conversation starter, an easy icebreaker for people to be able to move off of when introducing themselves but Ryoken never really got into it and honestly it led to an awkward answer every single time he was asked what he listened to. He used instrumental from time to time as a method to create some sound in his condo when it was the dead of night and the city outside was too quiet even for him but it was never anything Ryoken paid attention too, he could’ve just put on white noise in the background and it would have the same effect. It wasn’t like he had anything against it, just music – especially music with voices – was something that never drew him in, he used it as white noise and nothing else – at this point he was debating just getting a white noise machine for those late nights.

That meant of course the fact he was going to a concert was going to be a boring experience. He had never really gone to a concert, the closest he had ever was a few nights at the clubs with the music drumming in his chest and the heat of the room just overtaking as everyone went along with the thumping of the songs. He wasn’t excited and he knew nothing about the band they were seeing at all, opting just to let the music surprise him when they got there. It wasn’t like he was going to be into it either way.

An alarm went off and Ryoken turned to look at his phone, shutting off the reminder that he should be getting ready for this stupid party he was coerced into. Groaning, he stood up to get changed – opting for an all-black attire one too many outfits have been lost to the chaos that was a drunk crowd and he wasn’t risking it happening again. Even if his outfit was plain, Ryoken grabbed his bullet earrings – his little addition to any outfit when going out, he was fond of the earrings them being a gift from Specter years ago.

Sending off a quick ‘leaving now, be there soon’ text to Specter who had gone ahead, Ryoken slid his phone into his pocket and set off. He caught a taxi on the way and within a half hour was there, meeting up with Specter by the doors. There was group of people next to him, a particular pair of girls by Specter’s side seemed so stunned by Ryoken’s arrival – a small squeal could be heard from one of them. ‘_Oh great_’ he thought to himself.

“Thank you for coming Ryoken!” Specter smiled wide, obviously pleased with himself and the prospect of the new specimens he would be getting from his classmate or at least the fact that she would be doing his assignment for him.

“Ya... No big, just could be working on my physics.” Ryoken bit out, he was already regretting letting Specter force him into it – he needed a better roommate. 

“You needed the break Ryoken! Let’s go inside.” Specter nudged him forward, letting him go first into the concert hall.

The concert hall was smoky, the air already heavy and hot. The room was already packed enough with people, everyone pressed into groups and gathering close to the stage. Ryoken could see the banner for the concert set back on the stage – it seemed the concert was an amalgamation of bands, about four in total. Nothing was familiar to Ryoken but he wasn’t surprised by that, scrolling through a list of pretty stereotypical rock band names – his eyes caught on the last one; @Ignister. The name was weird enough, definitely setting itself apart from the others on the list but he doubted it would be very different than the rest.

A voice went over the speaker and he saw a group of people go onto the stage, a drumbeat blasting over the speaker. First group up.

\--

Finally hitting the last setlist of the night, Ryoken really regretted the night spent out. It wasn’t like the music was bad but the room was hot and claustrophobic – his heart was drumming so hard with the bass that he felt tingly and most of all the pair of girls from Specter’s class had been clinging to his side since the beginning of the concert and refused to leave. He was kind enough, entertaining their advances enough to not seem rude but also not enough to give them any idea he was interested but they seemed driven enough and kept talking to him, flirting with him. Specter was no help, every time Ryoken motioned to him for help his friend would just ignore him continuing to either go along with the music or talk with others from his class.

_Traitor._

Hearing a tap of the mic, Ryoken brought his eyes back to the stage and his heart stopped. Standing in front of the mic stand was a boy probably one or two years younger than Ryoken, he was slight in build, tall but thin. His eyes were a bright green and they appeared so vivid under the stage lights, his hair was a mix of blues and pink and he stood there plainly dressed in all-black, his jeans were ripped letting pale skin show through. The boy was holding a guitar that was green, darker than his eyes and had stripes of fluorescent yellow running along it. He was _beautiful_. Ryoken felt a breath catch his throat and he didn’t even notice other people coming on stage to flank the boy in the middle of the stage, he wasn’t able to tune in until the boy opened his mouth and started to sing.

Now if Ryoken thought the boy looked beautiful, his voice had to be considered otherworldly.

It was a deep hum, even over the crappy speakers that were struggling to keep up with the instrumental that was alongside the lyrics. Ryoken wasn’t really internalizing the song, just instead letting the sound of the singer’s voice wash over him – it was a deep clear sound up against the heavy crashing of the drums and the strumming of the guitar and bass. Ryoken was entranced watching him bounce up and down playing his guitar, eyes shut as he sang into the mic obviously immersed in what he was doing, and Ryoken was immersed in him.

“Ryoken are you ok?” One of the girls called out to him and tugged on his arm to grab his attention, obviously tuned into the fact he was just staring at the singer of @Ignister without saying anything.

His eyes flicked to her and he nodded slowly, “ya I’m ok they are just... Really good.”

“Oh they are pretty new, but they gained popularity really fast.” The girl smiled and seemed to jump on this chance, obviously she knew this band enough to feel like she could tell him about it as some sort of way to finally jump into a larger conversation with Ryoken. “The members of the group are known for being pretty attractive on top of how talented they are, the total package” She broke into a sigh, staring up at the band intently.

Now Ryoken wasn’t sure about the rest of the band – to be honest he hadn’t looked around at anyone except for the singer since they had come out but if they were even comparable to him then he would have to say maybe they were really attractive.

“They are pretty private group too; I mean before they started doing stage shows most of them went by stage names,” she continued, not even noticing Ryoken turning back to look at the singer once more.

“What’s the singer’s name?” Ryoken asked, the song coming to a close and the singer slowing to just stand both hands on the mic with his eyes still shut.

“His name? I don’t know his real one but he went by the name Playmaker.” As if he was being called, the singer – Playmaker – opened his eyes and they locked with Ryoken’s, there was a twinge of a smile on his lips as he kept his eyes locked with Ryoken and Ryoken swore he could feel himself melt just a bit.

“Playmaker…” Ryoken echoed.

“Hey there how is everyone doing tonight!” A voice full of high energy called out from the side, of the stage – one of the other members was speaking, he had long hair black and purple, with golden eyes and contrasting to what Playmaker was wearing he was dressed more extravagantly, with a long sleeved purple button that had a dark grey waistcoat overtop and was situated in to the far side from Ryoken holding a bass, “we are @Ignister!”

“Let’s go another round shall we?” Playmaker said, his voice was smooth it lacked the high energy that the other member had but his eyes had this mischievous look in them, the excitement evident, “begin.”

The word sent a shiver down Ryoken’s back – Playmaker was doing _something_ to him and he wasn’t really sure how to take it. On cue they started off another song and Ryoken felt someone walk into him, getting his attention again.

“Ryoken, are you alright? You have been intensely staring at the stage since the band came on.” It was Specter, he rose an eyebrow at him obviously clued into Ryoken’s odd behavior.

“Ya they are just really good…” Ryoken said, trying to offer up the same excuse he had offered Specter’s female classmate moments ago.

“You? Like this?” Specter looked shocked and looked between Ryoken and the stage, finally catching onto what his friend was staring at, “oh I _see_. Someone has a crush huh?”

Shoving his friend gently, Ryoken glared at him. It was true since the moment @Ignister came on stage he was unable to look at anything and was more intent on listening to Playmaker’s voice than even taking in what was happening around him, hell if Specter hadn’t walked into him to get his attention he would’ve ignored him until he made himself known to Ryoken.

“He’s beautiful.” Ryoken whispered, hoping that his confession got lost in the sound of the blaring music.

“Oh my god, you’ve got it bad.”

\--

_I am standing on the edge_  
Take me over, take me over  
See how fast this life can change  
Take me further, lead me further  
_Red -Take Me Over_


	2. Mystery of You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ryoken starts third year smoothly - until he is roped into the mentorship program.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys! This has taken a small eternity to update and I'm sorry. I got caught up in a new job as well as I wanted to write out more notes for this story. I have decided to merge it with a series I was deciding to make which is a college AU featuring all of the seasons of Yu-Gi-Oh, this serves as a intro kind of into the world and continues as me ranting about how much I love Yusaku's VA. Things are a bit awkward because of this change and I'm sorry you all had to wait so long. Also should note that although other season characters come in or are mentioned, VRAINS is the focal point of this so it won't really continue much about them except for mentions. I hope that you are all ok with that and if you like that kind of thing you will read the rest of the series. Also sorry this is long

Ryoken knew he had fallen for the lead singer of @Ignister – Playmaker as he was affectionately known as by fans – and he had fallen bad. Coming back from the concert, Ryoken couldn’t get the boy off his mind no matter how he tried. It was like a spell that had come over him and he couldn’t break it. For the rest of the weekend following the concert, Ryoken had been flipping through textbooks and opening up documents due the coming week coming but he just couldn’t focus. Words blurred into each other on the pages and his mind drifted to piercing green eyes and beautiful shades of blue and pink contrasting against pale skin – a voice would drift into his mind, one that complimented the beauty of the boy in question. It was deep, melodic and if Ryoken was poetic who would have likened it to a siren from the deep, calling out to him to plunge himself deep below.

This happened for weeks on end, turning soon into months. Ryoken had no so subtlety become a large fan of @Ignister, he didn’t go around with room and books covered with pictures of the band and certainly not covered with Playmaker. Specter had caught onto his obsession with Playmaker pretty early in, making small quips here and there – even going so far as to buy Ryoken concert tickets and albums. It made Ryoken feel akin to some teenager with their newest band obsession except for the fact he was halfway through his program in university and trickling into his third.

By the time his third year of university came around Ryoken was about ninty percent sure he was in love with a man he had never met. It was like a fairytale, love at first sight. How incredibly unrealistic and cheesy, it made Ryoken cringe. It wasn’t like him to be so enamored with someone who all he knew was the appearance and voice of – no matter how beautiful either were – the details surrounding Playmaker were slim, when Specter’s classmate had said they were private, she had meant it but despite that, here he was, zoning out of the world again like he had for the past few months due to his weird fixation on a man known as; Playmaker.

“Earth to Ryoken, hello Ryoken we are going to be late,” Specter’s voice cut into his thoughts and Ryoken flushed at the fact he was still thinking about Playmaker so deeply and not only that but how deep he had fallen for a stranger.

Though to his credit, he was a lot better than he had been months before.

“Ryoken!” Specter said louder, poking the man’s shoulder, obviously annoyed with being constantly ignored.

“Sorry… Sorry, I was distracted,” Ryoken stood up, shrugging on his white blazer he always wore and grabbing his bag from where it was on the desk.

“Ya I’ve noticed, you still focusing on that Playmaker huh?” Specter snickered, the annoyed look on his face replaced with a smirk and knowing look.

Ryoken just replied with a groan and pulled Specter out of the apartment quickly, the faster they got to their university the faster he could try and forget this nightmare of a morning was happening – and hopefully try to push Playmaker to the deeper reaches of his mind until at least the end of the day.

**\---**

It was early into year, but projects had already begun to pile up. Ryoken was working on them as the classes went on, rather than paying attention to the lesson plans in front of him – he had a recorder going off on his computer so he never really worried about paying attention to lecture opting to work on assignments and listening to Playmaker’s voice rather than the professors drawl in front of him. Ryoken had worked out doing university to a science, attend class for the participation marks, record lecture, feed his Playmaker habit by spending the whole time listening to his voice, leave and study in the library while waiting for Specter to finish and then go home with his roommate to work on assignments. The days went on like that, rinse and repeat.

However, during the break of his mechanics class Ryoken felt that whole routine turn upside when the student council vice president wandered into the class, sitting down right in front of him.

“Hey Ryoken, do remember when I mentioned there was a mentorship program for all third and fourth years to help the freshman?” The vice president – Yugi – sat down next to Ryoken, eyes bright with that determination that clicked with something Specter had once told him; ‘no one says no to Yugi when he has that look in his eyes.’

That look however spelt bad for Ryoken.

“I do… But what about it?” Ryoken took out his one earbud, looking over at Yugi to give him his attention.

“Well! We have no one from the CompSci major and I was hoping that you being one of our best and brightest – not to mention the only one without extracurriculars – would be happy to help out in welcoming our freshman to the university by being a mentor.” Yugi’s voice was happy, a smile never leaving his face as he locked eyes with Ryoken.

A chill went down Ryoken’s spine as he kept his eyes connected with Yugi, as gentle as he spoke and as happy as he appeared there was definitely a sense of power and command when it came to Yugi and Ryoken doubted he would come out of this without agreeing to this program.

“Do I have much of a choice?” Ryoken asked, watching the smile on Yugi’s face grow wider as he realized he had won Ryoken’s help without much of a fight.

“Nope, but I’m glad you agreed so easily – Yusei put up a fight.”

Specter was right – no one ever said no to Yugi when he wanted something.

**\---**

The meeting for the mentors to meet their mentees fell during the hour after Ryoken’s C+ class had ended and Specter’s class on bioluminescent plants had yet to begin so of course being the _wonderful_ friend that Specter was – he had decided to come along. Ryoken had tried in vain to also rope Specter into doing the program but apparently there was no freshman in the same major as Specter so Yugi had no one to match them up – Ryoken also doubted this but chalked it down to Yugi not wanting to scar anyone in the younger grades.

So here they were sitting around and waiting for the new students to come in and Ryoken was dreading his soon to be match up. He really didn’t have time for this with handling his school work and handling Specter’s antics on top of dealing with everything his father left behind for him to deal with – and truly that was the real worry.

Ryoken had been going through the waves of his father backlash for years – Kiyoshi Kogami had done terrible things and now Ryoken had to pay for them. _The Lost Incident_ was what it was referred to across any file or even what little news had been taken of it – as far as anyone knew of it, the Lost Incident referred to six children going missing and that was it. However, Ryoken knew better, the Lost Incident had been the plan of a mad scientist – his father – to test human strength and will at a young age and the natural survival instincts instilled in people before they fall to the conditioning and fear instilled in people as they grow older. At least that had been his dad’s theory. To test humanity at its weakest form and then strike that weakness from them, a method of conditioning that could truly create a human without fear who wasn’t commanded by instincts built into humans from the dawn of time. This had been done through torture, abandonment and other tests that had been deemed perfect for breaking the minds of several children. Years of tearing through his father’s work had only provided Ryoken with no answers and a lot of headaches – Kiyoshi Kogami had been a madman who experimented on children as if they were nothing but lab rats and who knows what happened to those children past Kiyoshi being found out – Ryoken certainly didn’t, for the most part.

But even though that had happened years ago, Ryoken was still trying to clean up and understand what his father left behind – records and theories, various mix of notes ranging from psychology to computer sciences and the like. Dealing with things like his father’s estates and other holdings, trying to make up for something that had been out of Ryoken’s hands when he had been only eight, atoning for his father’s sins one way or another, but he tried as much as he could but nothing would ever really atone for what had happened, or truly help those his father had hurt.

How do you fix the lives of six children you never met? Well no, he had never really met five of them.

Ryoken looked over at Specter and smiled softly at him – Specter had been one of those kids. Someone Ryoken had found through searching the site of the Lost Incident, someone who wasn’t broken in a way that could be easily understood by anyone, Specter had been looking for purpose that the Lost Incident had in some way given him. So Ryoken had started atonement there, bringing Specter into his home and giving him new life and understanding, he knew in ways what Specter had been through and helped him work through it, given him a home and a life to finally been his own. Become his friend. It was atonement but had also grown into something more. Specter was Ryoken’s family and their relationship went well beyond guilt.

But inside Ryoken laid a fear, one that came around when he had taken in Specter as if he was a pet project for Ryoken’s atonement – an idea Ryoken had been quick to push away and had forced him to truly put new lenses onto what his and Specter’s relationship was like. Of course that was years ago but the question resurfaced now that he was put in charge of another youth that needed guidance, what if he was more like his father than he thought? He had chosen a science outside of Kiyoshi’s field for a reason – even if he wanted to go into psychology to help more – and did everything he could to distance himself from his father. The fear haunted him though, following him like a ghost that he couldn’t shake, the constant ‘what if’ lingering around every corner.

“You can do this Ryoken, you aren’t gonna mess this kid up don’t worry,” Specter spoke, bringing Ryoken from his panic and offering a smile similar to Ryoken’s own from earlier, Specter understood his fears but seemed to think Ryoken would do well enough with mentoring someone – that he wasn’t going to corrupt some youth in the year of mentoring.

“You don’t know that Specter.”

“I know for a fact Ryoken that you aren’t gonna play with this kid’s head like he’s a new coding project… You really shouldn’t put yourself in a mindset where you think any place of authority is going to land you in manipulating people territory.” Specter was blunt, maybe even harsh by some people’s standards. But it was what Ryoken needed to hear, he wasn’t going in here to mess with someone, he wasn’t playing god over someone else’s mind – his anxieties were taking an idea and running with it and Ryoken had to put a stop to it at some point.

Letting out a deep breath, Ryoken nodded, relenting himself to stop obsessing over an irrational fear and let himself now worry about if the kid he got was going to be as weird as Specter was.

But at the same time, if they were like Specter – Ryoken doubted he’d mind much.

**\---**

“Alright everyone! File in!” Yugi called out, the president of Student Council standing next to him with his arms folded behind his back – Atem was identical to Yugi down to everything but clothing, height and energy. Whereas Yugi had this bubbly down to earth energy, easy and approachable – Atem stood tall and above everyone, commanding and obviously in charge.

A group of people filed in, most of them nervous and chattering amongst themselves. Ryoken watched the group, eyes flicking to them one by one as if he was trying to just by looking at them figure out which was his own mentee. It was a large enough group, he assumed that Yugi had gotten at least one from every major for the most part, possibly even more for the larger majors. With the last person entering the room, Ryoken tuned out Yugi explaining the program again to everyone in the room. Instead choosing to drum his fingers on the table as he scrolled through his phone looking at more pictures and pages of @Ignister, one headphone in to listen to their discography and if Specter said anything while sitting next to him he would deny that he had a problem like he always did

As Yugi finished off his speech, he began calling up the freshman one by one to introduce themselves along with their majors – and from that most of the mentors could figure out who they were placed with. None of them really caught his eye, most of it begin background noise as he was mostly focused with the words and images surrounding his newfound obsession. By the time the last student rolled by – a boy with brown hair and a bright red jacket – Ryoken came to the sudden realization that there was no one here for him.

Ryoken didn’t know whether to feel insulted or hurt that Yugi would have him come here only to have his mentee – if there had been one to begin with – not exist. The last 45 minutes spent worrying about whether he would be a good mentor or not would have gladly spent watching more crappy fancams of Playmaker or with Ryoken halfheartedly doing his assignments due later that week. Either way he swore to god he was going to get Yugi for this because really it was a waste of his time and-

“Sorry I’m late,” the door swung open suddenly with a thud, the urgency however was not met with the sound of the voice that came in with it – the owner of the voice sounding rather calm despite being a good bit late.

Something struck Ryoken about the voice of being way too familiar and soothing, tearing his eyes away from his phone and letting one hand pull the earbud from his ear. Ryoken felt the air catch in his throat, eyes wide as he was greeted with the sight of the object of his affection for the last half of the year standing in the doorway to the room in an oversized hoodie, loose fitting black jeans and beat up converse, his school slung over one shoulder – Playmaker. As plainly as he was dressed, Ryoken thought he was the most beautiful thing to enter the room – hell most beautiful thing he had seen all day.

“It’s alright, just come in and introduce yourself as well as your major so your mentor can find you pretty easy when we break up,” Yugi smiled, looking over at Ryoken as if to signal him, his lips mouthing ‘_this is your student_’.

Ryoken felt the breath that had been caught in his chest completely leave his body as he realized in horror what exactly this meant – he cursed Yugi and every higher being above for his luck. Playmaker walked to a seat off in the corner of the room, setting his bag down before joining the rest of the group of freshman at the front.

“Hi my name is Yusaku Fujiki and I’m a first year computer science major.” Playmaker – Yusaku – bowed his head, eyes scanning the room as Yugi began to close up the little introduction ceremony, their eyes locked and Ryoken felt the feeling of wanting to die come over him in waves.

His luck seemed to have abandoned him and for the rest of the year he was going to be mentoring someone who had been haunting him for last few months following that concert. Ryoken debated pulling out of the program, but he didn't want to make Yusaku feel bad about him running away plus he was sure Yugi would end him if he even attempted that. And so with that Ryoken accepted the sad fate laid out before him - and here he thought third year would go without a hitch.

\--

_Somewhere, I will find_   
_All the pieces torn apart, you filled me deep inside_   
_The mystery of you_

_Somewhere_   
_The mysteries of you_

Red - Mystery of You

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And there it is! I hope you all enjoyed. Shenanigans between Ryoken, Specter and Yusaku are due to start! Until next time!


	3. Of These Chains

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow it's been forever sorry! Please enjoy!

Their first session together was supposed the two of them getting to know each other Yugi had said, get to know his new mentee and work out where Ryoken would need to help Yusaku adjust to new life at university. But instead for the last ten minutes since Yugi had stopped talking about the goals and dreams of the program, both Yusaku and Ryoken spent the whole time awkwardly sitting together no words being passed between the two. Specter had left Ryoken as soon as Yugi had ended his speech, only giving Ryoken a pitying look before bowing out and now all Ryoken could feel was his insides crumbling. He didn't know if it was embarrassment or something else but it laid deep in his gut and tore at him. Yusaku was gorgeous, green eyes bright and curious - _nervous_ \- scanning over Ryoken as he waited for his mentor to begin mentoring him - Ryoken, however felt to turned up in his feelings to do something which was, extremely embarrassing.

"Um," Yusaku said softly, the hesitation obvious in his voice, "is something wrong?"

Shaking his head, Ryoken leaned forward towards his crush – wait, no – _mentee_, realizing he was probably making him way more uncomfortable than Ryoken even felt which was, very selfish of him. Deciding he really needed to pull himself together and actually do his job, Ryoken cleared his throat and focused on his task at hand.

"Sorry about that, I really have never done this before and I guess I'm letting my nerves get to me," Ryoken started, trying to ease tension of silence that had taken over the pair in the last ten minutes, "I'm Ryoken, third year computer science major, focus in coding and software."

Yusaku nodded in response, the tension in his shoulders still evident but he seemed a bit more relaxed that his mentor was finally talking and not just staring at him like a gold fish.

"So, Yugi wanted us to kinda pinpoint where you may be struggling to adjust to school life and work on it, seeing as we have been in school for about a month, maybe you have some concerns?"

Licking his lips, Yusaku's fist clenched – he looked deep in thought about the question but it seemed to push him on edge, it gave Ryoken a bit of concern. Was the adjustment period doing Yusaku really bad or maybe Ryoken said something wrong? Most kids who were in this program were self subjected to it but there had been a few who were cherry picked by professors and Yugi himself, so maybe he fell in that category and just felt awkward talking about how he got roped into it?

The never-ending questions flooded Ryoken's brain but were stopped when Yusaku began to speak, eyes avoiding Ryoken's.

"I," Yusaku paused, biting his lip before sighing and beginning again, "I was told by Yugi I needed to join the program, which had been an idea backed by the school counselor and my dorm advisor as well so, here I am."

So Yusaku was one of the unlucky few who were drafted, he would need to investigate with Yugi then about why Yusaku was stuck in the mentoring program seeing as Yugi had been the starting point.

"I see, so you have no clue why you are in here?" Yusaku seemed tired by the question, leaning on the table and resting his face on his palm – _god,_ he was beautiful.

"I mean, I sleep through most of my classes and Yugi was asking if I had made many friends and I said no, so I guess that?" Yusaku mumbled, sounding pouty, almost complaining to Ryoken about his subjection to this program.

But to be perfectly honest, aside from sleeping through classes within the first month of his first year, it didn't sound like Yusaku was really struggling to get into his college life – maybe he was a bit tired but by the sounds of it, he was a dorm kid and well, that life was hectic. None it explained his situation.

"Hm, odd but Yugi tends to know what he's doing so I'm sure he had good reason," Ryoken tried to sound comforting rather than confused, offering a small smile to the younger boy and earning a pout in return.

_Ryoken swore his heart stopped in that moment_.

"I guess, I mean… Could be worse – the mentor program, school and band practice how much more could I do?" The reality of the situation hit Ryoken like a ton of bricks, right, Playmaker was Yusaku, his crush/obsession, right ok, _play it cool Ryoken_.

"If it helps, I will work around your schedule as much as possible. I'm sure we can figure it out."

It was in that moment Yusaku stopped pouting and gave Ryoken the tiniest of smiles – now if Ryoken's heart didn't stop before, it stopped now.

\---

It had taken almost two days after the first mentorship meeting for Ryoken to finally track Yugi down for questioning, seeing as Yusaku had no clue how he ended up in the mentorship program and Yugi was the first to recommend, it meant as Yusaku's mentor he needed to figure out how he got recommended for the program in the first place. Now, Yugi wasn't exactly easy to track as it turns out on top of being student council vice president, he was also a co-dorm advisor – of Yusaku's dorm no less – as well as head of a gaming club and apparently he worked in his grandpa's gaming shop. Ryoken wondered how he had time for this many things on top of his schoolwork and well, living. But Yugi was something else he guessed.

"Yugi!" Ryoken called out, grabbed the shorter male and pulling him over to him in the halls, "I need to talk to you."

"Ryoken, what's up?" Yugi seemed slightly startled by the sudden interogation but smiled none the less, eager to please.

Gently pulling Yugi over to an empty club room, Ryoken sat down at one of the tables with Yugi in turn sitting on the table top, "it's about Yusaku."

"Your mentee?" Yugi's head cocked to the side, curious.

"Yes, now you recommended him for the program right?" Yugi nodded in the afirmative, "why? Because he seems to have no idea."

Yugi smiled, as if he had a secret he wasn't planning on sharing with Ryoken, eyes glinting with a mischievous look, "well Ryoken, it was actually a recommendation originally from his high school counselor due to Yusaku having poor social skills and apparently 'needing to branch out more', on top of that I just think he'd be a good fit for you."

Well, now that answer left Ryoken with more question than answers. It seemed odd for Yusaku's high school counselor to get so involved, especially with his university life. There had to be something Yugi wasn't telling and also-

"What does that even mean?" Ryoken grumbled, eyes narrowing at Yugi.

"What it means is that you have somehow graciously managed to balance school and odd extra curriculars so I would like to you help Yusaku do the same," Ryoken paled, no, he couldn't mean- "seeing as Yusaku plays in a pretty popular rock band, I think he could definitely use the help balancing out his life. Have you heard of the band Ryoken, @Ignister?"

If Ryoken was a man who killed people, his first two victims with be Yugi and subsequently, Specter.

\---

"You told people I was a fan of @Ignister? Specifically Playermaker?" Ryoken yelled across the room at his roomate who was currently trying to get away from Ryoken's wrath, Specter was edging towards his room that lay just to the left of Ryoken. "Of all people you told _Yugi_ who we know has a meddling streak built in him and just so happened that Playmaker himself entered our school and got referred to a mentor program as _my_ mentee?"

Ryoken was two seconds from killing Specter, friendship be damned – hell, Lost Incident be damned, Specter was asking for a death wish and no amount of guilt or loyalty was going to stop him.

"I didn't know Playmaker – Yusaku – was going to be here and let alone your mentee, I just thought Yugi would help mess with you and your cute crush, not make you work with the kid till the end of the year," Specter explained, obviously hoping to satiate the anger growing in Ryoken.

Lucky for Specter it did.

"I swear Specter one of these days," Ryoken groaned and dropped himself onto the couch, rubbing his temples.

"Also didn't Yugi say that his counselor recommended he be part of this program?"

Ryoken nodded, it was so odd to him and Yugi still seemed to be hiding something past his knowledge of Ryoken's crush but hadn't let it on to him. Part of Ryoken wondered that if he mentioned that to Yusaku maybe the boy would know but it seemed like he was pressing him and he didn't want to push Yusaku into a corner, especially this early into their relationship.

"If anything, that means you can flirt your way into his heart rather than just pining over a voice?" Specter said, walking towards the kitchen to probably get started on dinner. However, the comment earned him a pillow thrown at his back and a loud groan from Ryoken.

"Specter, if you haven't forgotten, I have way too much to deal with to go and date – no matter how much I may have 'pined' over Yusaku," it was true, Ryoken was preoccupied. He had school, actually mentoring Yusaku and of course, atonement.

Atonement for the Lost Incident took precedence over everything and even Ryoken's pathetic crush on Yusaku. He may have made amends with Specter but there were five more kids out there and of course, one in particular that he owed more than others.

_'Three things ok? Think of three things to help you get through this'_

He owed that boy everything and until he gave that boy what he was owed, he wouldn't be able to even think about pursuing a romance, especially with Yusaku.

"You can't live your life on pause because of what you father did," Specter mumbled, understanding Ryoken's plight but they had had this fight so many times about Ryoken clinging to guilt.

But no matter what, the fight always ended the same; "you know I can't do that Specter."

And he did.

\---

_Afraid to open up the door to_

_Who I was before_

_And if I let go of these chains now_

_Will I float away? Can I just hold on?_

Red - Of These Chains

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So how long until Ryoken figures out the mystery boy is Yusaku? We shall see, but until then enjoy the shenanigans and there will be more little cameos from the other characters I promise. Also more Yusaku!

**Author's Note:**

> And there we have it. I spent a lot longer on writing this than I wanted but here it is, I really doubt there is gonna be a large amount of plot here, but we shall see where the road takes us. I hope you liked it!


End file.
